Initiating a large-scale virtual exchange practice in a global citizenship course – the pivotal role of pre-COIL programs

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) is an emerging pedagogical field with growing communities of practitioners worldwide (Rubin, 2022). The advantages of COIL include cost-effectiveness, tech-enabled accessibility, and multicultural exposure (Beelen & Doscher, 2022). However, existing literature indicates that these advantages are often not fully realized in institutions that lack systematic COIL support (Akiyama & Cunningham, 2018). An impactful COIL program requires students to engage with international peers at three levels: information exchange, critical thinking, and telecollaboration (O’Dowd, 2009).

Data shows that over 50% of institutions adopting COIL as an internationalization strategy are relatively new to the field, with less than five years of experience and fewer than five COIL programs per institution, per year (Stevens Initiative, 2023). Such institutions often lack the necessary infrastructure and well-trained staff to support high-impact, sustainable COIL programs. This paper reports on the organization and facilitation of a large-scale, multicultural global citizenship course that involved over 1,000 undergraduate students from ten higher education institutions across six different countries. Students’ global citizenship development was measured through pre- and post-course questionnaires, pre- and post-course reflections, and post-course focus group interviews.

The paper demonstrates that creating a multicultural space for peer-to-peer exchange facilitates global citizenship development in an authentic setting and cultivates students’ openness to other cultures. However, it also reveals that most students need adequate external incentives to maintain engagement. This paper argues that a pre-COIL course can improve staff and students’ telecommunication competency, expand their global network, and effectively prepare them for fully-fledged COIL engagement in the future.

It is recommended that institutions new to COIL programs systematically engage with “pre-COIL programs” that require only one or two levels of engagement, rather than the customary three, as this approach allows for greater flexibility in course design.